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Had I not been in mid-asana it might have been a more emotional moment for me. But still my heart sank. The man had incredible genius and changed the way we all live and work today.

My history with Apple is rather sporadic and varied. While Apple machines were not my first computers (that honor goes to the TRS-80 Color Computer 2), I did use them in their pre-Macitosh days before I ever even touched a MS-DOS (much less Windows) machine. I mostly remember playing Lode Runner or Oregon Trail on the Apple ][e, as well as typing exercises at school (but those were a breeze, given my mother was a typing teacher and taught me years before). As the editor (and designer) of the Armuchee Valley Signal I used the Apple //gs and Apple ImageWriter II. Desktop publishing was in its infancy and still involved a lot of manual/literal cut and pasting, but James Grady (my assistant editor) and I did the core work on the //gs. The 3.5" disk drive was novel to me and seemed especially cutting edge in 1990.

Then came my first Macintosh experience. When my father was assistant principal at LaFayette Middle School, all the office computers were Macintosh. I don't remember the specific model he used but it was probably a Macintosh Classic or similar. Often I had to wait in his office after school while he was in a faculty meeting. I would play on the computer--mostly fooling around with the sublime After Dark. It may have been just a screen saver but it appealed to my creative side and I loved experimenting with the different options. I also remember using various models of Macintosh LC (including a LC 520 with Microsoft Musical Instruments) and Macintosh Quadra in the high school library.  The librarian even had a Macintosh Color Classic--the physical design had a refined distinction that attracted me. Those were also the days of the Newton--something I never actually used (or even saw in person). But I was geeky enough to know about it and thought it was a cool idea.

Around that time the school switched over to IBM compatible machines. While Apple machines had a traditional strong hold in the education market, this switch was largely motivated by budgetary needs. And, for business classes, the fact that the business world was using IBM compatible machines meant it was what you needed to learn. But even before that the business computer lab at LaFayette High School wasn’t Apple–it was full of TRS-80 Model III machines! This is the department my mother taught in. Before (and after) my father’s stint in school administration, he taught drafting (and later generalized technology). He taught CADapple on the Apple II in the early days but in time this too shifted to IBM compatible machines using AutoCAD.

Back on the home front the TRS-80 had become ancient and we went the way of IBM compatible machines as well. We had a variety of machines over the years but the few that stand out are the Leading Edge Model D, an IBM XT, and–my first Windows machine–a nondescript Packard Bell. So in my later teenage years Apple was all but absent from my everyday computing life.

My next memory of Apple is the Think Differnet campaign, particularly the John Lennon & Yoko Ono ad. I was living in New York by this time and heard a building size version of the ad was displayed on the Upper West Side. I took the subway uptown, Pentax 35mm camera in tow (that was still before the days of digital), and photographed the ad. Other memories from the time include shopping in Printer Matter (back when it was on Wooster Street) and admiring their collection of colored iMac’s. iMac is the first product I recall coming in a rainbow of colors, a trend soon reflected in consomer products from microwaves to (of course) Apple’s own iPod. Apple was becoming noted more than ever before for its design aesthetic. High design was something no computer company had done before. Technolgoy began its shift from mere productivity tool to chic fashion accessory.

After an early history littered with Apple computers, the first Mac I owned personally was a late 2006 Mac mini, only the second Intel-based Mac mini model. It was a hand-me-down that I was grateful to receive as I dipped my toes back into the world of Apple computing after many years of using IBM compatible machines. It wasn’t powereful enough to be my main machine but it was a great learning tool that still gets use to this day. I’ve been a bit behind the curve on home computers the past few years due to financial limitation’s and my partner’s unemployment, but friends have been generous and two of my main machines are other hand-me-downs: a MacBook Pro and an iMac, both from 2006. They’re too old to run Lion which puts me behind the curve on the software as well as hardware front. But they serve me well. These two Macs feel more “current” than my hand-me-down Windows machine of only slightly newer vintage. And yes, I do use that many computers. If you’ve read this far you shouldn’t be surprised–I’m a completely unabashed tech geek.

And that’s why last night that simple yoga pose turned out to be rather emotional afterall. I may not fall under the Apple “fanboy” category. But I don’t really like those labels anyway. I’m a tech pluralist–which is why my fruitful computing past is filled with a multitude of tech brands, operating system versions, and hardware platforms. But there will always be a few Apple’s growing on my tree.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” –Apple Inc.

Steve, thank you for being crazy enough. Rest in peace.

madalyn jeanne schellinger craig
18 apr 1927 – 13 mar 2011

i only knew madalyn in the final decade and some odd years of her life. my relationship with her came rather unexpected.  but life has taught me that those can often be the most valuable relationships we have. madalyn was both a friend and adopted mother to me. she was an exceptional conversationalist, loved using the computer, could talk endlessly about old films, joyed in playing games, and would always–always–tell you exactly what she thought, never holding anything back (even if it might hurt your feelings).  and she loved to tell dirty jokes.  maybe later i will be able to recall some of them for you and we can laugh together.  7-up in hand and cigarette to lips, that’s just the way madalyn would want it.

click through for a few photos i took of her over the years, and a poem i wrote shortly after i met her. if you knew her too, leave a comment with your memories of madalyn.

enclosed spaces

and we pulled up outside on Nassau,
Madalyn in the window puffing cigarettes.
i raised my hand in the air warmly
and greeted her with a wide-eyed smile.

then to the back of the van
we find our way through the summer heat,
unyielding, unloading a grandiose a/c.

then up to to the second floor
we have to make a transport,
a narrow flight of stairs to ascend
up to the lair of these two women.

then we toil and slave, shift and slide,
working the window wholesome,
fitting and balancing Madalyn’s a/c.

finally we get it all a’glowing,
cooling crisp and clean, comfortable,
creating a place to restfully rise,
ready to soothe her central space.

l.k.  brooklyn
5 june ’99  3:17pm

madalyn, i know you’re out there.  i love you.

according to the article in the nytimes, there are about 500 taxis displaying the work of three artists (including yoko).  assuming the taxi’s are divided equally among the artists, that means less than 175 taxis’s are traveling around all of nyc with the ad.  i have no idea how many taxis there actually are in nyc, but 175 seems like a pretty small percentage.

walking home from the grocery store the other night–a walk that is literrally just half a block–i remembered the ads and thought, “oh, i need to be on the lookout.”  within the next minute that it takes me to get home i saw not one but TWO taxis displaying “WAR IS OVER!”   i attempted to snap a photo with my iPhone and only then did i realize just how difficult capturing these ads with a good photo was going to be even under the best of circumstances.

the next day i went walking, watching the passing taxi’s like a hawk.  nothing.  no yoko.  i must have looked at hundreds of taxis.  not a single one of them displayed the ad.  i went home feeling very discouraged, wondering how i could have possibly seen TWO of them the night before within the space of one minute.  and when making a concerted effort to find them, they were nowhere to be found.

the next evening as  i was on my way home from yoga, i noticed a WAR IS OVER! taxi parked just across the street from my building.  there were no lights on, and no driver present.  even though it was dark out, i ran upstairs to retrieve my camera and came back in hopes of at least getting something in my camera.  the taxi was still there and by now it had turned it’s lights on, illuminating the ad.  i rushed across the street and snapped a handful of photos. the conditions were not ideal but as hard as it was to find a moving WAR IS OVER! taxi, i knew i would probably never see a standing one again.

maybe chasing around the city for a WAR IS OVER! taxi is sort of the point here.  it’s an ideal, a (n)utopian thought easily envisioned but much harder to grasp.  it’s something to stand for.  it’s something to imagine.  it’s a collective dream slowly building towards reality.  and maybe, just maybe, it’s sitting right outside our front door and all we have to do is walk across the street.

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